Ripple SEC

SEC Scores Further Delay, Confusion Reigns: “I Choked On My Diet Coke As I Read This”

By ProCoinNews • January 25, 2022 7:54 pm • Comments

The SEC’s main goal is to “protect investors”.

How many times have we heard that company line rolled out in pre-packaged comments from the government agency?

Imagine driving on a road with no speed limit signs and you have to guess what the speed limit is…

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Oh, and you get a ticket if you guess wrong!

Would that lack of clarity make you feel “protected”?

Of course not.

And that’s the chorus rising up from the XRP Army today as more confusion reigns supreme in the Ripple/SEC lawsuit.

At this point, the confusion being generated by the SEC is almost to be respected for the sheer level of talent it must take to perform these mental gymnastics.

Now let’s dive into the details…

Last week Ripple scored a big win when the SEC was ordered to turn over the infamous Hinman emails, and 65 other documents the SEC had been desperately trying to keep confidential.

We brought you those details here:

Judge Hands Ripple a Win: SEC Must Turn Over Hinman Emails!

So…have we seen the documents yet?

Nope.

Instead of producing the documents as ordered, the SEC stalled and then filed an official Motion with the Court to reconsider the Ruling.

That happened four days ago on January 21 and James K. Filan (@FilanLaw) has been all over the story:

Here’s the real kicker…

Aside from showing no intent to follow the Judge’s Order that was already issued, the SEC set forth one of the most bizarre and confusing arguments we have seen yet in the case.

 

Here’s a direct quote of the part everyone is looking at:

So the SEC is now making two totally contradictory arguments:

One the one hand, they claim the Hinman Speech was just his personal opinion and NOT official SEC policy.

On the other hand, they’re now arguing to the Judge that the Hinman Speech and emails are so critical to the SEC’s policy making that they must be protected and kept confidential under the “Deliberative Process Privilege”.

You don’t have to be a Harvard-trained lawyer to understand those two concepts are totally opposites of each other, as @MaxiTilt perfectly sums up below:

The Tweet was so good David Schwartz himself responded to say he choked on his Diet Coke when he read the SEC’s new Motion.

We all did David.

Advancing the story, just yesterday, Ripple filed its own Motion objecting to the (absurd) request.

Again, from James K. Filan:

That response was so well written I’m copying the full document below so you can read it:

Many people online posted about how absurd the SEC’s argument is, asking for a 6th bite at the apple:

Others tried to find the silver lining or benefit of the doubt that it would somehow pay off for Ripple in the end:

And now comes the final update…

MEMO TO @JOELKATZ: I hope you’re not drinking Diet Coke when you read this because it’s about to come up your nose.

Again from James K. Filan comes the breaking report that Judge Netburn GRANTED the SEC’s Motion for delay, at least in part.

Unreal:

FinanceFeeds summed it up perfectly with this write up:

“The SEC respectfully submits that these additional documents clarify the truly deliberative nature of the discussions surrounding the Speech across the SEC, and show that the Speech was not “merely peripheral to actual policy formulation”, but was in fact an “essential link” in the SEC’s deliberative process with respect to Ether” and other digital assets. The SEC therefore seeks leave to submit for in camera review the entire set of the 66 documents…”

The whole SEC v. Ripple lawsuit has been baffling executives, law experts, investors, lawmakers, and some regulators ever since it started. This move opens a new chapter as the SEC seems to be looking to have it both ways.

A few months ago, the SEC’s attorneys argued Bill Hinman’s 2018 speech was merely his personal opinion in order to protect itself from Ripple’s attempts to make the fair notice defense stick. Judge Sarah Netburn accepted the agency’s statement as true and in her latest ruling, the court considered the drafts and emails regarding his speech as not privileged, thus ordering the SEC to deliver those to Ripple’s defense.

Now, the SEC is trying to argue that the speech was not “merely peripheral to actual policy formulation”, but was in fact an “essential link” in the SEC’s deliberative process with respect to Ether and other digital assets.

An epic 180º turn. We’re getting closer to the anniversary of the first time the court ordered the SEC to hand over those documents.

Attorney Jeremy Hogan and Stefan Huber are sounding the alarm that these delays could stretch into March…on just this one topic!

Not the resolution of the case, just resolution of this one topic:

Others including YouTuber Alex Cobb have little faith the emails will contain anything worth seeing even when they are produced given they will likely be heavily redacted:

So, was the Hinman Speech “just his personal opinion” or was it official SEC guidance?

Don’t ask the SEC…

They can’t tell you.

Or won’t tell you.

Actually, they’ll tell you it’s BOTH!

But luckily the XRP Army is very resourceful and continues to find damning evidence they never thought would be dug up.

The latest?

It’s a big one.

I’ll take your Hinman Speech and raise you a Jay Clayton speech.

Listen to these short clips and tell me if it sounds familiar…

That’s a whole lot of “we” talk if you ask me.

Spoiler alert:  we = SEC

Watch here:

Eleanor Terrett has been doing fantastic reporting on this story and she continues with her analysis:

Others in the XRP community continue to dig up ever MORE clips.

Watch this one:

We’ll continue to bring you the latest on the story here at ProCoinNews!

Stay tuned and check back for more developments.

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